Industrial Development Board (IDB) supplied Brass and Copper to ‘Colossus’, a company owned by Easter Sunday suicide bomber Insaf Ahmad Ibrahim during the period between 2017 and 2019, although the company had failed to operate within the given criteria, Sarath Udayasiri, Marketing Director of IDB informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks today.
Testifying before the Commission, Udayasiri said that the IDB had supplied Brass and Copper to ‘Colossus’ at concessionary rates. He told the Commission that ‘Colossus’ procured a considerable amount of scrap brass between 2017 and 2019, and this had affected the other small and medium scale enterprises. “Colossus received 35% out of the total Copper and Brass that were accumulated between 2017 and 2019,” the witness said.
Udayasiri added that by the year 2018, the turnover of ‘Colossus’ exceeded Rs. 600 million. “So it was no longer a medium scale company. In 2017, it was registered as one,” the witness said.
The witness further said when ‘Colossus’ had been registered in 2017 and it also did not have the certification of the Grama Niladari of the area where the factory was located.(Yoshitha Perera)
Colombo High Court sentenced five suspects, who were found guilty of selling a piece of land in Kollupitiya, to 67 years in prison.
Further, the five convicts have imposed a fine of Rs 130,000 and were ordered to pay an amount of Rs 14 million as compensation to the owner of the land.
The first defendant of the case, Christy Vivian Rodrigo, was sentenced to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,000, and Rs 2 million in compensation.
Dhammika Rodrigo, Jeyaraj Amarasinghe, and Chintha Rajapaksa, who were also found guilty, were served a sentence of 10 years each and fines worth Rs 20,000. The trio is also to pay compensation to the landowner worth Rs 3 million each.
Further, Jayantha Rodrigo, who was also named a convict of the case, was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment, a fine of Rs 20,000, and compensation worth Rs 3 million.
The Attorney General served indictments against the five convicts overselling a piece of land on a road adjoining to the Marine Drive in Kollupitiya using fake deeds on October 24, 2012, and aiding and abetting the said crime.
Following a trial, Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya found the defendants guilty of the charges and handed down the aforementioned penalties.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says that a final decision has not been taken to give the Eastern Terminal of the Colombo Port to India.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had last week given the go ahead to Shipping Minister Johnston Fernando to start talks on changing the agreement signed by the previous administration on building a container terminal in Colombo port.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had signed agreements with India and Japan to run the partially built East Terminal after dropping plans for a standard build-operate-transfer deal amid opposition from then President Maithripala Sirisena.
Port workers had also objected to the unloading of some cranes that had arrived at Colombo port in a protest against the deal.
Trade unions today called for the expediting of the development of the East Terminal and opposed handing it over to a foreign country.
Four (04) more person has tested positive for Covid-19 (new coronavirus) infection . 02 positive cases among arrivals from Bangladesh, a returnee from India and another from Dubai.
Seven new cases of Covid-19 were reported so far today (July 01).
The country total has increased to 2,054 according to the latest information by the Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health
The Sri Lanka Nidhas Podujana Sandhanaya says that it is not possible to cancel the MCC agreement once it has been signed twice and the previous government has obtained Rs. 1,800 million.
Former Parliamentarian D V Chanaka made this statement at a media briefing.
MCC is a US Govt foreign aid agency which is funded by US Govt and the top US representatives’ sit’s on its Board. When $480m MCC Compact was announced immediately after the jihadi terror attacks on Easter Sunday, it was presented as a ‘gift horse’. That everything was done in secret reconfirms our doubts. The then Govt even denied MCC was operating an office inside the PM’s office. It is important to understand that this American compact is part of an overall Indo-US Pacific Strategy and complimented by 3D’s (Development, Defense, Diplomacy). The MCC placed a set of preconditions prior to signing of the agreement, & commitments after signing & passing the compact in Parliament. We must know what the pre-MCC commitments that have been launched are and put a stop to these if the present Government commits to not signing the agreement. An important and necessary aspect of the already launched pre-MCC project is the e-land registry which is outsourced to multiple private companies selected by the US embassy in Colombo.The danger of continuing with the e-land registry lies in the MCC clause 3.9 clause on intellectual property which is why the e-land registry must be brought under Sri Lankan purview/laws & by locals and local IT experts and not outsourced to foreigners.
In viewing this MCC agreement it is advisable for Sri Lankans to stop thinking from the lens of their preferred political party and look at the dangers a foreign agreement is likely to bring to the country & its citizens. Political parties change power periodically but we have enough experience of the suffering our people went through under colonial rule. We should not walk into another 1815 Kandyan Convention (ceding our nation to foreign powers) or allow a 1840 State Land Encroachment Ordinance (where invaders told the natives they were encroaching on their own land) or 1897 Wasteland Ordinance where anyone who had no documentary proof of land ownership had their lands confiscated by the British. MCC should not be a repeat of what took place exactly 200 years ago.
Now, please read these lines carefully and keep them at the back of your mind as you read the rest of this article.
MCC is a US Govt foreign aid agency which is funded by US Govt and the top US representatives’ sit’s on its Board. When $480m MCC Compact was announced immediately after the jihadi terror attacks on Easter Sunday, it was presented as a ‘gift horse’. That everything was done in secret reconfirms our doubts. The then Govt even denied MCC was operating an office inside the PM’s office. It is important to understand that this American compact is part of an overall Indo-US Pacific Strategy and complimented by 3D’s (Development, Defense, Diplomacy). The MCC placed a set of preconditions prior to signing of the agreement, & commitments after signing & passing the compact in Parliament. We must know what the pre-MCC commitments that have been launched are and put a stop to these if the present Government commits to not signing the agreement. An important and necessary aspect of the already launched pre-MCC project is the e-land registry which is outsourced to multiple private companies selected by the US embassy in Colombo.The danger of continuing with the e-land registry lies in the MCC clause 3.9 clause on intellectual property which is why the e-land registry must be brought under Sri Lankan purview/laws & by locals and local IT experts and not outsourced to foreigners.
In viewing this MCC agreement it is advisable for Sri Lankans to stop thinking from the lens of their preferred political party and look at the dangers a foreign agreement is likely to bring to the country & its citizens. Political parties change power periodically but we have enough experience of the suffering our people went through under colonial rule. We should not walk into another 1815 Kandyan Convention (ceding our nation to foreign powers) or allow a 1840 State Land Encroachment Ordinance (where invaders told the natives they were encroaching on their own land) or 1897 Wasteland Ordinance where anyone who had no documentary proof of land ownership had their lands confiscated by the British. MCC should not be a repeat of what took place exactly 200 years ago.
Now, please read these lines carefully and keep them at the back of your mind as you read the rest of this article.
Just think for a minute about an elected Govt agreeing to grant MCC ‘PERPETUAL’ (Permanent), IRREVOCABLE (UNCHANGEABLE), ROYALTY-FREE (ABSOLLUTELY FREE), ‘ASSIGNABLE RIGHT’ (transferring right) to the US/MCC to on behalf of Sri Lanka – PRODUCE, REPRODUCE, PUBLISH, RE-PURPOSE, USE, STORE, MODIFY any PORTION or PORTIONS of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY as MCC SEES FIT – in ANY MEDIUM, NOW KNOWN or HEREAFTER DEVELOPED, for ANY PURPOSE WHATSOEVER.
Don’t these lines shock you
Don’t you wonder what kind of an agreement this is to hand over Sri Lanka’s Intellectual Property Rights to a foreign country?
Don’t you wonder if the public officials associated with the drafting of this agreement with these lines were insane not to object?
This means MCC would lay claim on products originating or produced in Sri Lanka and we would virtually lose our sovereign rights over products that have origin in Sri Lanka and the Government will have to pretend to be deaf dumb and blind because it actually agreed to hand over Sri Lanka’s past-present & future intellectual property to a foreign country!
The MCC land project is just 67million but is likely to impact our land, land legislation, our resources and our people. A presentation was made by MCC in Temple Trees on 25 September 2018 (slides are given at end of article)
It confirmed that a Constraints Analysis report was made in 2016.
It identified access to land as the root cause for investment (we were sold a bogus story of MCC alleviating poverty)
This means that the preparation of the parcel fabric map and inventory of state land, formulating a new land policy, with land information system & data on land was aligned to the goal of facilitating INVESTMENT.
A map showing MCC focus for land investment was shown covering 7 districts along a Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor.
Slide 4 listed 3 activitiesnot subject to conditions precedent to fundingas these were part of other funding programs linked to World Bank & USAID
Inventory & mapping of State Land & preparation of parcel fabric
Improving Deeds Registry – scan & digitize deed records
Improvement of the valuation system
This means though these 3 activities are not part of the conditions precedent to funding, it is however associated with & is part of MCC land project.
In fact, US embassy called for expressions of interest as far back as 2011.
This was the very year US announced its Pivot to Asia plan under President Obama. The MCC was without doubt on the pipeline with various associated projects being plugged in through funding unknown or not doubted by the government in power. Having sent teams to study Sri Lanka’s land administration and funding reports, the external parties knew more about our loopholes than our own public officials.
With the public entry of MCC after 2015 regime change. All of the hidden projects came out into the open and declared part of MCC.
Thus, the cadastral mapping, parcel fabric map, deed registry scanning and digitizing, state land information & valuation is being outsourced to multiple private parties selected by the US embassy Colombo.
Slide 4 of the presentation made on 25 September 2018 next listed 2 activities SUBJECT TO condition preceding MCC funding(what Sri Lanka had to do BEFORE obtaining any MCC funding) and requires passing by legislation in Parliament.
Registration of ‘grants’ in the title system & converting deeds to title system
Establishing a land policy body
Would any country allow foreign countries and private firms associated with these foreign countries to be given access to their land records? These companies and their staff are currently going through all of the 45 land registries in Sri Lanka and demanding millions of dollars for their system set ups. Why is the Government not putting a stop to this immediately?
When the surveyor’s department had the capability and the expertise to do the cadastral mapping, ignoring their appeals, the task was given to a US firm (Trimble Navigation) for a cost of $154m. Is this part of the $480m MCC Compact – why should Sri Lanka burden itself to pay 1/3 of what the US is supposed to be giving in total? No one will answer.
Keep in mind that the US has rejected the title registration system and continues with a modernized form of deeds. Why shouldn’t Sri Lanka also adopt the same US system instead of another old & outdated Australian registration system?
Already some 700,000 title registration certificates have been given and their data is being entered into an e-registrar that is operated by foreigners & foreign IT set with back-office and front office operated by them.
Return to the MCC clause 3.9 on intellectual property. Though MCC is not signed, the country’s data is not only being accessed by foreigners and private parties but they are taking over this data and entering into a system that is theirs. Now isn’t all of this data virtually their intellectual property rights even by default? Isn’t this a fundamental rights violation of the privacy of these 700,000 title owners? What if suddenly these private entities decide to suddenly close shop & leave with the data and this data is used against or to the disadvantage of these 700,000 owners, what will or what can the GoSL do on behalf of them? These are very serious scenarios that we cannot afford to brush aside thinking that nothing will happen. We are dealing with a country that in its own website carried that $10m was given as part of MCC and now when the Gunaruwan report pointed this out as well as the amounts not being entered into the State records, the embassy website has deleted the entry of this news item.
And even twitters that no such monies had been disbursed
Slide 5 is proposing a Land Policy Body which makes the newly set up private company (MCA Sri Lanka) above the Ministry of Lands. How can a private company be above the State’s Ministry?
MCC slide 6 proposes to establish a Land Policy Body. Didn’t no politician or official tell MCC that we already have a National Land Policy Department in the Land Ministry?
MCC wants to establish a new entity where its MCA-Sri Lanka private company will set policy for a sovereign country, probably ending up inviting all the nefarious local and international NGOs/civil society to be part of it.
How can the Land Policy Research Council be ‘independent & national” when its head is a private company (MCA Sri Lanka) and its members are private sector? Where is the voice of the public officials, the lawyers, the people?
Please look at the 8 slides that were shown by MCC on 25 September 2018 to understand better. Think for yourself the scenarios Sri Lanka & its people and even an elected government will find itself when there is a parallel policy making body functioning above it.
Sri Lankans must worry about the 3.9 Intellectual Property clause which inspite of MCC agreement not being signed is valid given that all of the pre-MCC land deed scanning, e-land hub entries and state land bank information are being entered by foreign/private companies into systems owned and operated by them.
Sri Lankans opposed CEPA on account of our IT personnel getting affected. Imagine our entire intellectual property being ceded to US? This cannot be allowed.
Questions of sovereignty and notions of strings attached will have to be addressed for the smooth passage of the grant
The picture at the top shows the MCC Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America Caroline Nguyen and the Sri Lankan Treasury Secretary signing an agreement to provide an additional US$ 2.6 million USD grant to finalize compact development in June 2018
By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror
With the American Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC), getting into hot water in Sri Lanka, Nepal and some countries in Africa, what is apparent is that one size will not fit all. Each country has its own political, social, and economic concerns and historical experience shaping its mindset. The aid program will therefore have to be tailor-made to suit each country.
That the MCC is a grant and not a loan is a major plus but it still will not be accepted if the recipient countries see strings attached to it and perceptions of strings” vary from country to country.
The Sinhala version of the final report of the Sri Lanka experts’ committee on the MCC Compact, which has been put on the website to get public reactions, has apparently suggested that the government should not sign the Compact without amending the intrusive” clauses. According to Dr. Palitha, Kohona, a former Lankan Foreign Secretary and Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, the objectionable intrusive” clauses were: (1) the substitution of Sri Lankan law by international law and (2) the special privileges and extensive immunities granted to US personnel under the MCC compact. The chairman of the panel, Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, had himself said that some of the clauses violated the Lankan constitution.
The report noted that the details of the MCC compact, on the table for years, were never made public for any meaningful discussion to take place. While acknowledging that governments have the right to enter into agreements with other countries, the panel said that there are some agreements which may impinge on the laws, sovereignty and constitution of Sri Lanka. In such cases, governments should seek the approval of parliament. Such pacts should also be open to any citizen’s inspection under the Right of Information (RTI) Act. If necessary, RTI regulations should be changed to allow it. Fortunately, the MCC Compact requires parliamentary sanction.
Dr. Kohona insists that the MCC serves America’s geo-political agenda. He recalled that the MCC had pulled out of Sri Lanka in 2008 on political (human rights) grounds. According to a piece in www.grain.com the US could terminate the Compact if its stringent conditions are not adhered to, or if it no longer suits its political interest.
Contours Of The Compact
Sri Lanka has been promised a grant (not a loan) of US$ 480 million under the MCC compact, 70% of which will be for the improvement of transportation and the rest for preparing a land registry. The purpose of the land project is to increase the availability of information on private land and under-utilized State lands. In 1998, the Lankan parliament passed the Land Titles Act to convert the outdated land deed system to a land titles system. The current land deed system requires decades of land deeds to prove ownership. This has led to long drawn out litigations over ownership.
However, the 1998 law was only partially implemented because of financial constraints. In 2007, Mahinda Rajapaksa regime re-started the ‘Bim Saviya’ project. But again, work could not go beyond Colombo district and a few other areas.
The MCC grant is to go into mapping government land, identifying utilized and un-utilized government lands, and creating a register of government lands. It is pointed out that 85% of all land in Sri Lanka is owned by the government, but the government does not have a central registry of this land. Most departments have no idea what land it owns. This means that land is heavily under-utilized. Land available for agriculture or industry is not used appropriately. This new land registry will allow for the government to know what it owns and where,” a source said.
But leftist leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara fears that accepting a big grant of US$ 480 million will put Lanka under a moral obligation to accept US demands. Nationalists like Udaya Gammanpila would like land registration work to be done by the government without direct foreign involvement. He fears that the MCC will be used to grab land for foreign investments as it happened in Africa. According to www.grain.com land projects in Mali, Ghana, Mozambique and Benin make it clear that the MCC has played a key role in commodifying Africa’s farmlands and opening them up to US agribusiness.
US Denial
In Sri Lanka’s case, the US has officially denied that it has any plan to buy released land or that it is eying land on the proposed Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor, a project which Lankan nationalists oppose. Perhaps they think that the US is eying Trincomalee.
Jenner Edelman, Resident Country Director for MCC in Sri Lanka, addressing a Foreign Policy Round Table, on September 24, 2019 at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute in Colombo, said that there is no railway or transportation infrastructure project of any kind from Colombo to Trincomalee in the MCC grant; nor is there any mention of this conceptual corridor in the grant agreement. The so-called Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor is a high-level conceptualization of the Government of Sri Lanka’s plans to create several proposed economic or development corridors by 2050, she said.
Edelman said that MCC projects will not be implemented by the MCC as such, but overseen by a Lankan Board of Directors, comprising senior Lankan government officials as well as private sector and civil society representatives. It will be handled by a management unit of around 65 Lankan professionals.
By necessity, some equipment and technical expertise required for the projects will come from abroad as it may not be available in Sri Lanka. However, there is no requirement to ‘buy American.’ There will be opportunities for local firms to win contracts.
It was pointed out that woven into the MCC scheme are modern principles of organization such as rationality, transparency and accountability. By learning to abide by these principles of good governance, Lankan personnel would be able to replicate them in other spheres of the administration. In the long run, MCC projects will help tone up Lankan administration which needs to be modernized if the country is to be a commercial ‘hub’ of South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region.
All MCC projects must be based on correct data and analytical rigor. Such rigor has to be applied to resource allocation, project design, and results measurement. Lastly, transparency and accountability must be embedded in all aspects of the partnership—before, during, and after the Compact period.
Daily Express (November 7, 2109) quoting a US embassy statement of November 2019 to say that projects under the five-year US$ 480 million grant will benefit at least 11 million (or 54% of) Sri Lankans. Of the total of US$ 480 million, US$ 350 million will go into the transport project with an estimated Economic Rate of Return (ERR) of 19%.
The transport project seeks to increase the relative efficiency and capacity of urban and provincial transport infrastructure in the Western, Central, Sabragamuwa and Uva Provinces. It will upgrade physical roadway networks, modernize traffic systems, and introduce policy and regulatory reforms.”
The US$ 67 million land project has an estimated Economic Rate of Return of 26% and aims to expand and improve existing government initiatives to increase the availability of spatial data and land rights information. The project will initially focus on districts in the Central, North-Western, North-Central and Eastern provinces,” the US Statement said.
The MCC grant may not be available for much longer as Sri Lanka had recently graduated to upper-middle income status, the US has pointed out.
The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government will take a decision after securing public opinion and negotiating with the US on any change it may want. A final draft pact will then be taken to the cabinet and parliament for their approval.
The matter was raised at the leadership level during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 23.
Indian and Sri Lankan authorities held talks over two days this week on rescheduling Colombo’s repayment of loans and the country’s $1.1 billion currency swap request to abate the economic impact of COVID-19 crisis.
A spokesperson for the Indian mission in Sri Lanka said, “In the context of the situation concerning the Sri Lankan economy’s external sector, the two countries have been engaged in close and constructive discussions.”
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay held discussions at the senior level in Colombo on Sri Lanka’s requirements.
The statement said, “In the post-COVID world, India remains committed to partner Sri Lanka closely for the latter’s sustained economic recovery and shared prosperity.”
The matter was raised at the leadership level during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 23.
During the talks, the Sri Lankan President requested the Indian government to provide $ 1.1 billion special SWAP facility to top up US $400 million under SAARC Facility.
The Indian readout said, “Prime Minister assured the Sri Lankan President that India would continue to provide all possible support to Sri Lanka for mitigating the effects of the pandemic.”
President Rajapaksa also sought Indian help to revive key infrastructure projects in the Indian Ocean Island country, including hastening up the construction of the East Terminal of the Colombo Port.
Defence Secretary Major General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne says the senior police officers-in-charge of provinces should be ashamed of wearing their uniforms if large-scale illegal activities are taking place in their respective divisions.
You need to curb illegal activities that are increasing at an alarming rate without heeding to forces that might influence you and also to protect the dignity of the uniform that you wear. No police officer, from Senior DIGs, DIGs to OICs in the area, can wash their hands of the accountability for the increase in crimes rate in their respective areas,” the Defence Secretary said addressing senior DIGs and DIGs representing all provinces of the Sri Lanka Police at a special meeting held at the Defence Ministry.
He has advised the police officials not to consider their profession as just another job as the lives of the country’s people are in their hands, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The responsibility of the armed forces is to protect people in events like major natural catastrophes like floods and landslides, terrorism or hostilities and also virus outbreaks like COVID-19. But you are the ones who recognize the pulses of the people. Hence, you shoulder a bigger responsibility in protecting people’s lives,” the Defence Secretary said adding that while many police officers are serving in a dignified manner, some are a disgrace to the entire police department.
The Defence Secretary said he had received letters from the public residing in various police divisions citing the inefficiency of some policemen, including top police officials in the areas, in curbing crimes and also their involvement with criminals in those areas.
Sir, there is no point of lodging complaints about drug peddlers to the police as these drug dealers, who were informed by the police on our complaints, are threatening to destroy our families the next day,” the Defence Secretary quoted from letters that he received from various police divisions and questioned the Senior DIGs and DIGs whether the police could gain any respect in such situations.
If any of those top police officers, who have had hand in such crimes, are present here today, they should be ashamed of themselves. I have received many complaints that drug trafficking was carried out with the help of some police officers during the curfew and drugs were being distributed in motorcycles and three-wheelers and as well as by using young children with the blessings of those corrupt police cops. I have also received complaints about an OIC attached to a Northern Police Station, who had acquired a large sum of cash from a criminal, with the support of another high-ranking police officer, to allow him to run his illegal businesses, freely,” he revealed.
Despite the Defence Ministry, issuing a letter on April 5 this year had instructed Superintendents of Police (SP) to prepare reports on the underworld criminals and drug traffickers in the respective police divisions, they have failed to submit those reports to the Ministry, so far.
The Defence Secretary has instructed the Acting Inspector General of Police Chandana Wickremaratne to look into the matter.
If it took two-and-a-half months to implement, how could we bring the perpetrators to book” the Defence Secretary queried.
He stressed that when directives were issued by the Defence Ministry or the Acting IGP, it should not be considered as directives issued by a corporation or any other government institution as it is a matter related to national security.
Defence Secretary said police officers were responsible for maintaining national security as they are the main contributors to create a fear-free environment for the people to live freely.
I want to tell you the same thing that I told the prison officials. From today onwards, you have to perform your duties properly in a responsible manner. Let me know if any of you were not allowed to perform your duties. I have arranged this meeting today to request you to perform your duties to gain respect for the uniform that you wear and it is your responsibility not to leave room for any political force to harass people in your respective areas. The SSPs and ASPs have a responsibility to look into these,” he said adding that no police officer, who works for the sake of gaining personal benefits, earns respect when he is being called ‘a good boy’ by a politician.
He also said the senior police officers should be held responsible if any form of crimes, including theft, murder or drug trafficking, were taking place in the areas coming under their purview.
The Defence Secretary said if there were 12 police stations under DIGs, all 12 OICs should be accountable for the crimes that took place in those areas.
You can inform about officers who perform duties irresponsibly to me or the IGP but those who make complaints should have clean records,” he said, noting that tourists or families cannot enjoy their evenings at the Mount Lavinia and Panadura Beaches due to drug addicts.
The Defence Secretary also revealed about a failed attempt by a henchman of a notorious underworld criminal to fill a large swathe of marshy land in the vicinity of Colombo and was thwarted by the Police’s Special Task Force.
When inquired, the Police officer-in-charge of that area said he was unaware of this illegal landfilling. You can justify a police officer saying that he couldn’t detect drugs hidden inside a flower basket or a pocket but how can he say that he was not aware of the filling of 4-5 acres of land,” the Defence Secretary questioned.
He said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Election manifesto had spelt 10 main objectives and maintaining national security was its main priority and his main intention of appointing the Presidential Task Force was also to support to build a safe country, a disciplined, virtuous and legitimate society for all Sri Lankans.
Meanwhile, the Defence Secretary, who again quoted a telephone call that he received about a ransom of Rs. 5,000 from a 60-year-old female street vendor in Kaduwela, questioned as to how one could speak of national security when innocent street vendors aged 60 to 70 years were unable to sell green leaves without paying a ransom.
By P.K.Balachandran/DailyExpress Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Expert panel on the US-sponsored Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact seeks amendment of intrusive” clauses
Colombo, June 28: The Sri Lankan cabinet-appointed expert committee on the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC), which submitted its final report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier this week, has suggested that government should not sign the compact without amending the intrusive” clauses, according to Dr.Palitha Kohona, who has seen the report.
The report of the four-member panel headed by economist Prof.Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, has not been released to the public yet though a Sinhala version has appeared in one of the websites.
Dr. Kohona, a former Lankan Foreign Secretary and Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said that the objectionable intrusive” clauses were: the substitution of Sri Lankan law by international law and the special privileges and extensive immunities granted to US personnel under the MCC compact. Dr.Gunaruwan had himself said that some of the clauses violate the Lankan constitution.
Earlier, Kohona had told a panel discussion that when the MCC pulled out of Sri Lanka in 2008, the reasons were political. He charged that the MCC is not a totally altruistic organization, but a tool in the hands of the US government pursuing its political agenda in Sri Lanka and the region.
He also pointed out that the US Congress had never approved the total amounts requested by the MCC, thus raising the question as to whether the amount approved for a single country would be available at the end of the day. There are some 60 countries hoping to get something out of this cake, and Congress is there fidgeting around to decide the size of the cake,” Dr. Kohona told the audience.
Sri Lanka has been promised a grant of US$ 480 million, 70% of which will be for the improvement of transportation and the rest for preparing a land registry.
A problem Dr. Kohona stressed was the extensive impact on the domestic legal framework, through the granting of immunities to the US Government and its employees operating under the compact. Then there is internationalization. The problem with the MCC, which is a government to government treaty, is that it’s governed internationally and not domestically, Kohona said.
It impacts a whole range of domestic laws, regulations, and practices. It will be governed by international law. In the case of a dispute or disagreement, where do you go for a solution?” he wondered.
According to www.grain.com with the signing of the MCC Compact, the recipient government should set up an institution to administer the funds, called a Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which operates autonomously, with its own Board of Directors, but under the oversight of a local designated ministry.
The Compact lasts typically for five years, with regular evaluations and strict targets that have to be met, each year or so, before new tranches of funding are released. Once the Compact is approved, the money starts to flow, although the tap can quickly be turned off if the government changes direction in a manner that does not suit Washington, the website said.
Touchy Issue Of Land
Udaya Gammanpila, leader of the Lankan nationalist Pivithiru Hela Urumaya (PHU), pointed out that one of the aims of the MCC is to increase availability of information on private land and under-utilized State land in order to increase land market activity.” According to the MCC website, the MCC aims to identify the root cause of problems in the land sector because of the difficulty in access to land for investment purposes.”
A monograph of the Colombo-based Institute of Policy Studies says that only 30 to 40% of the lands in Lanka’s rural areas have a clear title. In 1998, the government initiated a land title registration scheme called the Bim Saviya program. But it ran into financial and other problems and had to be abandoned. The MCC is expected to fund its completion.
But Lankan nationalists like Gammanpila would like this work to be done independently by Sri Lanka because he fears that the MCC will be used to grab land for foreign investments as it happened in Africa. According to www.grain.com land projects in Mali, Ghana, Mozambique and Benin make it clear that the MCC has played a key role in commodifying Africa’s farmlands and opening them up to US agribusiness.
On Madagascar an article in www.grain.com says that in December 2008, it became apparent that the government that was using MCC funds to allocate certificates to thousands of rural Malagasy under the National Land Program, was also selling off these lands to foreign investors.
The people of Madagascar were shocked to learn, via the international media, that their government had allocated a 1.3 million hectare land concession to the Korean company Daewoo Logistics, and that it was negotiating another agreement with the Indian company, Varun, covering several hundred thousand hectares, both for large-scale farming projects.”
In fact, the government had signed away, or was in the process of signing away, nearly 3 million hectares of agricultural land to foreign investors through a system of long-term leases (up to 99 years) that it established in 2008 as part of a new investment law supported by its donors,” the website said. Eventually, protests led to the cancellation of the Varun project.
US Denial
However, in Sri Lanka’s case, the US has officially denied that it has any plan to buy released land. It has also denied any plan to participate in a Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor project.
Jenner Edelman, Resident Country Director for MCC in Sri Lanka, addressing a Foreign Policy Round Table, on September 24,2019, said that the grant projects will not be implemented by the MCC, but will be overseen by a Lankan Board of Directors, comprised of senior government officials as well as private sector and civil society representatives. It will be handled by a management unit of around 65 Lankan professionals.
But, during the five-year implementation period, MCC would expect the Lankan government to continue to demonstrate a commitment to good governance. Projects must also be implemented efficiently and in line with best practice.
The MCC land project does not include the purchase of land in Sri Lanka by the US government on any US agency, Edelman said. There is also no railway or transportation infrastructure of any kind from Colombo to Trincomalee in the MCC grant; nor is there any mention of this conceptual corridor in the grant agreement, she added. The so-called Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor is a high-level conceptualization of the Government of Sri Lanka’s plans to create several proposed economic or development corridors by 2050, Edelman explained.
By necessity, some equipment and technical expertise required for the projects will come from abroad as it is not available in Sri Lanka. However, there is no requirement to ‘buy American,’ and there will be opportunities for local firms to win contracts. The MCC grant may not be available for much longer as the country recently graduated to upper-middle income status, it was pointed out.
The MCC Compact has to be approved again by the Sri Lankan cabinet and sanctioned by parliament. Prior to a cabinet decision, the expert committee’s report will be put before the public for their views, President Gotabaya said. The committee had itself consulted a wide cross of people and stakeholders in the six months it had taken to finalize its report.
Ms. Lyu, please tell me your mother’s name. I’ll pray for her at the temple,” a Sri Lankan engineer said to his Chinese colleague, Lyu Zeying.
Lyu is a high-pressure welder with China Machinery Engineering Corporation, the Chinese contractor of the Puttalam coal-fired power plant in Sri Lanka. The power plant generates more than 40 percent of the electricity needed by the country.
In March, the Sri Lankan government announced curfew measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures led to a drastic drop in the number of Sri Lankan staff working at the power plant, which in turn increased the Chinese employees’ workloads.
Due to the pandemic, Lyu and her husband were unable to attend their daughter’s wedding. Even more sadly for the couple, Lyu’s mother passed away, but they were unable to come back to the country to bid a last farewell to her.
We had to stick to our duty to ensure the smooth operation of the power plant while fighting against the pandemic,” Lyu explained.
Sri Lanka is in dire need of high-pressure welders, which makes Lyu indispensable to the construction of the power plant. She and her husband always rush to provide help when they are needed.
In April, the project’s Chinese staff worked day and night to improve the plant’s power generation so that it could provide 50 percent of electricity needed by the country during the pandemic.
In addition to offering technical support to the Sri Lankan side, the Chinese team also contributed to the country’s pandemic control efforts. On June 1, it donated an infrared temperature screening system to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), which has greatly improved the efficiency of carrying out body temperature checks of staff at the power plant.
Startling revelations made by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, who headed the high level Government inquiry into the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement is likely to nail the MCC coffin unless the United States renegotiates and withdraws all the harmful clauses in the original proposal.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed officials to release the Gunaruwan Committee Report to the public so that the people would be aware of the good, bad and ugly sides of the MCC proposal.
Two agreements signed in 2017 and 2018
The most surprising fact that was disclosed by Prof. Gunaruwan was that contrary to the repeated claims made, the previous administration and the US had signed two agreements in 2017 and 2018 as regards two phases of the project and the initially proposed grant of USD 7.4 million was raised by another USD 2.6 million, taking the total to USD 10 million. The two agreements were signed in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but the inquiry team could not find any supporting documents in the External Resource Department (ERD) of the Finance Ministry. The questions which arise are why was the money not paid after the agreements were signed? And why was the ERD, the monitoring unit of all foreign funds, kept in the dark?
Another salient point was the Land Commissioner had intimated to the Inquiry Committee that the MCC project could not be implemented as there are no provisions for it in the land regulations of the country.
MCC violates the Parliament
After handing over the report to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last Thursday 25 June, it was disclosed that once Parliament approved the project, views contrary to the agreement or any other proposal would be considered a move against the original agreement. Referring to the contents of the proposed agreement, Prof. Gunaruwan pointed out the Attorney General would be denied the right to represent the Government in court. He pointed out the proposed agreement violates the powers exercised by Parliament.
On the same day the Co-Cabinet Spokesman, Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, declared that the Government would not sign the MCC Agreement.
The Government inquiry team
The President appointed Colombo University Senior Lecturer Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan as Head of the Committee to comprehensively review the agreement. The Committee comprised former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport D.S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayawardena and Architect Nalaka Jayaweera as members.
The Committee has clearly stated that the MCC Agreement prepared by the former Government contained articles completely contrary to certain clauses of the Constitution and the legal system of the country. It was obvious the approval of main Government bodies was not obtained while preparing this Agreement. The Committee reviewed the proposed MCC Agreement over a six-month period, taking into consideration the views and proposals of various sectors and prepared the report after a lengthy study.
Co-Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said Considering this situation, the Government has taken a firm decision not to sign any agreement which is in violation of the existing laws of the Country and Constitution”. The Government, he said, will never take any decision in an arbitrary manner without informing the public”.
Ranil and Mangala poised to sign the MCC
Discussions about the US $480 million MCC Compact agreement commenced three years ago. While the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera wanted to sign the agreement pronto and start the project, the then President Maithripala Sirisena cautioned, stating that the proposed agreement should be studied by professionals to ensure that there were no clauses detrimental to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. The previous Government was poised to sign the MCC Agreement just before the last Presidential Election through a Cabinet decision taken on 27 October, 2019, but did not go ahead due to a public outcry over lack of transparency and clarity over the terms of the Agreement.
When the Cabinet Memorandum was first presented, it was rejected by the Cabinet. Subsequently, he re-submitted the Cabinet Memorandum dated 5 July, 2019 seeking the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to sign the Compact Agreement and the Programme Implementation Agreement. However, the Cabinet approval was delayed until early this week due to opposition from President Sirisena in entering an agreement with the US-based MCC. Due to these objections the Cabinet of Ministers deferred the Cabinet Memorandum presented by Samaraweera week after week. Finally the Cabinet approved the proposal on 29 October, 2019 and Minister Samaraweera wanted to rush in and sign the MCC Agreement on 31 October. Infuriated President Sirisena telephoned Samaraweera and ordered him not to sign the agreement until the Presidential Election is conducted on 16 November, 2019.
MR argues Sri Lanka should not sign MCC
When it was discussed, then Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka should not sign the MCC deal because from the information made available it appeared not to be of national interest. The Government has not taken any steps to explain what exactly this entails and what its impact will be on the country. The contents of this proposed agreement are not known even to parliamentarians let alone the general public. Before this agreement is signed, its text should be made public, and presented to Parliament and debated,” he said.
Mangala keen to sign the pact fast
Despite these objections, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera had not given up his strategies to sign the MCC Pact immediately. In fact Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said at a Media briefing that the MCC Agreement could be signed before the Elections.
Mangala’s strange logic was that after the MCC Agreement was signed, he would present it to Parliament seeking approval. Opposition MP Udaya Gammanpila pointed out that after an agreement is signed it will not be possible to annul it. This was confirmed by the Gunaruwan investigative Committee.
Mangala’s statement
At that time Mangala Samaraweera’s statement said The Compact Agreement and the Programme Implementation Agreement will be submitted and enacted by the Parliament of Sri Lanka once it is signed and before its entry into force, it will be published in the Government Gazette before being submitted to Parliament”.
He argued that the final agreements were done under the guidance of the Attorney General and well within the legal framework. However, he could not reply to the valid argument that the approval of the Parliament should be obtained before signing the agreement. The Finance Ministry said the proposed projects under the MCC Compact were based on constraints to the economic growth analysis” undertaken by the MCC in 2016 on the request of the Government of Sri Lanka.
The MCC and the GoSL subsequently decided to focus on the land and transport sectors, which were identified as binding constraints to growth. The constraints analysis concluded that traffic congestion in the Colombo Metropolitan Region, poor transport connectivity between provinces, and weakness in land administration constrained economic growth. Accordingly, the MCC agreed to grant US $ 480 million for financing the above projects,” the Finance Ministry said.
MR cautions study MCC after Presidentials
As Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa said, the proper way to get it done is to wait for the Presidential Elections and allow the new Government to study the MCC proposal and make a decision.
While there was such a lot of opposition from different corners, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe agreed to accept the criticism and in a subtle way tried to get approval using a legal loop hole or a way to enter from the back door. However, Mangala Samaraweera was not a patient man. He was a man in a mighty hurry and he continued to exert his power forcefully. Thus, on the MCC Agreement, Mangala was cornered without an exit route.
The STF seized a stash of weapons from a safe house of underworld kingpin Dharmakeerthi Tharaka Perera Wijesekara alias Kosgoda Tharaka at Pitipana, Homagama yesterday.
A suspect known as Potta Kapila and identified as an accomplice of Kosgoda Tharaka has also been arrested with the stock of weapons.
The raid was carried out under the supervision of STF Commandant DIG Waruna Jayasundara.
The STF commandos found 12 T-56 assault rifles in the raid. This is the highest number of T-56 rifles recovered in a single raid and the largest stash of firearms belonging to an underworld gang, found in Sri Lanka.
Kosgoda Tharaka wanted for many crimes including murder, extortion and drug dealing, is currently in prison.
Police have information that Tharaka is still accepting contracts to kill people. They suspect that the recovered weapons had been used in crimes by his confederates.
Tharaka is a notorious criminal involved in organised crime. The police said they believed he had killed least five people besides committing several robberies.
Tharaka shot dead a policeman during a robbery of a jewellery shop at Matara. He is in prison for that crime.
The STF arrested the chief accomplice of Kosgoda Tharaka, and seized 200 grams of heroin with a street value of Rs. 2.5 million, on May 25.
On May 15, the Police Narcotics Bureau arrested four associates of Tharaka, with more than 225 kilos of heroin, from a house at Mahabage in Welisara. The street value of the consignment of heroin was over Rs 2.2 billion, police said. A car and a double cab belonging to the suspects were also taken into custody.
The STF has launched further investigations to ascertain how Tharaka had amassed the weapons.
The final report of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement review committee would be presented to the Cabinet to be studied before making a decision on the agreement, Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris said.
Speaking at a news briefing held at the Sri Lanka Podujana Permanua (SLPP) headoffice, Professor Peiris said they believed that the report would be presented to the next Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinet and the government should study the final report before making a decision on the MCC agreement. Anyone can access the final report now since it has been made public. The government hides nothing,” he said.
Professor Peiris said the government has to take into consideration all aspects prior to making a decision, as it cannot take spontaneous decisions.
Meanwhile, SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said a SLPP Government would never sign any agreement harmful to the country.
It could be the MCC or any other, but we will never sign any agreement detrimental to the country,” he said.
Retired Deputy Inspector of Police (DIG) Keerthi Gajanayake believes that the intelligence information the Inspector General of Police (IGP) received prior to the Easter Sunday terror attacks had been undermined by the IGP himself, with the inclusion of a common phrase used by the police.
Giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the Easter attacks, Gajanayake insisted that the phrase ‘For Necessary Action’ should never be included on a document containing valuable information.
Retired Deputy Inspector of Police (DIG) Keerthi Gajanayake who served as the Director of State Intelligence from 2003 to 2011, gave evidence before the Commission today (29).
Elaborating on the duty of an SIS Director, Gajanayake said that the primary duty of a person in such a position is to inform the President and the Secretary about the special information received on national security. To this end, he said that the position of SIS Director is facilitated with direct communication with the President.
During the proceedings, the state counsel brought the document containing correspondence of pre-warnings pertaining to the attacks, to the attention of the witness.
The State Council asked the witness as to what is meant by the note ‘Eyes Only’ made by then-National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis on the letter sent to the IGP Pujith Jayasunadara. The witness said that a note reading ‘Eyes Only’ is made when a highly secretive piece of information is submitted for the knowledge of a certain person. He added that once the recipient absorbs the contents of the document noted ‘Eyes Only’, it is a must to destroy the said document without letting another person come across it.
The witness went on to say that during his entire service, documents noted ‘Eyes Only’ were only submitted to the President and the Defence Secretary.
The State Council then drew the attention of the witness towards the note made on the document by then-IGP Pujith Jayasundara, which read for ‘For Necessary Action’. The witness responded saying that it is his view that the note ‘For Necessary Action’ should never be made on a document containing such a valuable piece of intelligence.
While saying that the phrase ‘For Necessary Action’ is of common usage within the police, the witness noted that the intelligence information contained in the document has been undermined by the usage of the phrase ‘For Necessary Action’.
He also went on to say that such action from a high-ranking officer such as the IGP cannot be expected.
The Commission asked the witness as to whether the sentence ‘A secret investigation is underway pertaining to the above information’ contained in the document, undermines the initial piece of intelligence information.
The reply of the witness was that by the time this letter was forwarded, the SIS had information of Zahran Hashim and his terror cell’s involvement in defacing of Lord Buddha statues in Mawanella, and the discovery of explosives from Wanathawilluwa.
With a pre-warning issued by a foreign intelligence agency containing the relevant names, he added that the SIS chief had not presented that information and the information which the SIS possessed, coherently.
The witness told the Commission that had SIS Chief Nilantha Jayawardena presented the information coherently, there would have been clear grounds to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The Appeal Court announced that the decision on issuing an interim order preventing the execution of the arrest warrants issued by the Fort Magistrate, against former minister Ravi Karunanayake and others over the Central Bank treasury bond scam, will be delivered on July 07.
The writ petition filed by Mr Karunanayake and the other defendants was taken up for consideration before the judge-bench comprising President of the Court of Appeal A.H.M.D Nawaz, Justices Shiran Gunaratne and Sobitha Rajakaruna on Monday ((29).
The court stated that the decision on whether notice will be issued for hearing of the petition will also be declared on the said date.
The writ petition had been filed by former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake, Chairman of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) Geoffrey Aloysius, CEO Kasun Palisena and former Central Bank officials Indika Saman Kumara and Sangarapille Padumanathan.
They have been charged with allegedly misappropriating more than Rs 52 billion in government bonds at two auctions in 2016.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to examine and immediately provide relief to depositors of the collapsed financial institutions The Finance and ETI.
The President has said that the proceedings should be monitored through a committee set up representing the Presidential Secretariat, the Central Bank, the Treasury, and the Depositors.
The President made these remarks at a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat today (29) to look into how the depositors of ETI and The Finance depositors are paid.
At the meeting, the measures taken by the Central bank with regard to the relevant financial institutions had been discussed at length, the Presidential Media Division said.
Former Minister of Ranasinghe Premadasa‘s government Gamini Jayawickrama Perera admits that the then-government provided weapons to the terrorist organization LTTE during the civil war.
Perera mentioned this addressing a public meeting held in Kurunegala, yesterday (28).
He says that the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) signed agreements with LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Ranasinghe Premadasa vowed to chase away the IPKF from Sri Lanka when he was a presidential candidate, which resulted in IPKF teaching Varadaraja Perumal, then-Chief Minister of the North Eastern Province, to establish his own army and to declare a separate flag for the North Eastern Province instead of the Sri Lankan flag, said Perera.
However, Premadasa did not send Sri Lankan armies against this as ceasefire talks were ongoing between Premadasa and Prabhakaran at that time, claims Perera.
Perera further said that he can responsibly state that then-President Ranasinghe Premadasa provided weapons to LTTE to defeat the IPKF and Varadaraja Perumal’s armies.
Third World country policy makers as well as their citizens need to understand that ‘independence’ for former colonies is just a cliché and nothing else. All that happened under colonial rule continues under neocolonial policies & practices. Foreign aid and investment are a key component that continues to bind former colonies with aid-interest & debt. Note how every foreign investment or international aid mechanism is always tied to a list of requirements that seek to dilute national sovereignty & people’s rights. Taking all this to account, when monetarily factored these unnoticed factors may exceed that of the aid given and be more detrimental to the nation & its people. But do policy makers address these factors before jumping to accept aid packages & sign agreements?
Since independence the international monetary organizations and the UN has pushed former colonies into changing their customary laws and practices into one that is linked to ‘international standards’ & ‘international laws’ that is easier for them to dictate and rule over.
Thus, the colonial introduced statutes and ordinances are being slowly changed by aid & UN requirements and countries are forced to comply. Most countries & their policy makers fail to see the hidden objectives. The aid agencies and UN often prepare elaborate reports & studies on countries and use that data to monopolize the aid. This was how a string of initiatives, changes to Statutes, investments have taken place in Sri Lanka. These are all aligned to continuing global hegemony of the powerful.
As Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in an interview said – there is no free lunch. Aid is often tied to the requirement to buy equipment from their countries, to accommodate and look after their staff who have to be paid big salaries and perks and all this added and reduced from the AID given ends up nothing much at all but a country ends up having to pay interest component as well. AID is certainly a curse to all developing nations.
MCC is a US government aid package linked to US pivot to Asia and linked to the newest US policy under Indo-US Pacific Strategy of combining Defense, Development & Diplomacy.
SOFA is part of the diplomacy
ACSA is part of Defense &
MCC is the Development wing.
An all-US governmental apparatus but involving transnational companies which comprise members of US allied states. In Asia, US partners with India-Japan & Australia. It is also important to note that Sri Lanka in view of its geopolitical positioning is important for US in multiple angles.
Sri Lanka is an alternative to Diego Garcia
Sri Lanka’s positioning for trade from west to east and east to west is a plus if US can take control of it
Sri Lanka plays a pivotal role in US blue-dot network eyeing the ocean that surrounds Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s Ports are one of the key features of Sri Lanka though sadly no government has given enough importance to developing it as one of Sri Lanka’s key strengths.
Sri Lanka is anyone’s paradise. The climate, the scenic beauty, the environment and people are immeasurable.
All countries have their interests. Sri Lanka should also have its own interests. All countries weave their diplomacy and interactions around those interests. Sri Lanka must learn to do the same. Sri Lanka must also know what the interests of all of the countries Sri Lanka has ties with (good or bad) and adopt policies and strategies to deal with them. It is only in knowing what the interests of external parties are that Sri Lanka’s policy makers can read in between the lines of their intentions alongside their ‘handshakes of friendships’.
It is without a doubt that US-India & China are competing for regional supremacy in the Indian Ocean. Yielding Military and Economic presence are priority options.
Seeking or establishing Commercial projects cum Military bases/naval facilities overseas in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean borders Africa, Middle East, Asia & Australia. Indian Ocean is home to major sea lanes and choke points crucial for global trade. Nearly 40% of world’s offshore petroleum is produced in the Indian Ocean. Indian Ocean has rich mineral deposits and fisheries.
C
hina – Djibouti, Port in Tanzania, 99 year lease of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port
India – Seychelles (20year pact to build airstrip & jetty), Oman, Singapore (access to India to Changi naval base), naval facility near Strait of Hormuz (where more than 30% of seaborne oil exports pass daily) India is also demanding Sri Lanka’s Mattala Airport and Colombo East Terminal. India is developing $85m Chabahar Port to counter China’s Gwadar Port in Pakistan.
India’s navy opened a third air base in the far-off Andaman and Nicobar islands in 2019.
Then there is a host of transnational companies linked to MCC – all international contractors are to be paid directly by US Treasury under MCC agreement. The MCC agreement also stipulates international law. This together with the 6.8 immunity clause means that Sri Lankan law will not apply inside Sri Lanka. We do not even know the minimum or maximum non-Sri Lankan employees to be working on MCC projects once and if signed or how many are currently working on the projects that have started prior to MCC signing (ex: e-register). The role of transnational/multinational corporations often having more money than state governments also pose a risk when involved in international projects like MCC in particular linked to the 6.8 MCC clause and the 3.9 intellectual property clause. These are days where foreign companies are taking national governments to international tribunals.
These transnational companies landing to operate to ‘alleviate poverty’ are not the angels everyone presume. 48 such multinational companies have been found guilty of abusing labor, violating trade union freedom, providing appalling work conditions, deducting unfair taxes, sudden layoffs, use of private armed security to victimize locals airing dissent against their actions (Nestle & SYNGENTA in South America), destruction of environment and vital resources, polluting soil, deforestation, contaminating water supplies (Mining company MAJAZ in Amazon), THYSSEN KRUPP in Brazil impacting traditional fishing. Multinational companies have been accused of cultural aggression and forcing expulsion of natives. UNION FENOSA operating in South America has not honored commitment to compensate displaced farmers. DUTCH-SHELL has been accused of repressing Brazilian and Argentinian communities.
Transnational companies have also been accused of damaging people’s health via poisonous insecticides (BAYERS PARATION-Germany/Nemagon distributed by Shell Oil/ROCHE in Brazil)
Privatization of water has also led to reduced flow and loss of water quality (PROACTIVA MEDIOAMBIENTE in Ecuador)
Privatization of public services (possibly on the pipeline for Sri Lanka) have resulted in additional tax burdens and disconnections of water supply/electricity to consumers. Together with the host of these malpractices the transnational companies are also accused of promoting corruption – kickbacks, commissions and handouts.
These are certainly threats to people’s sovereignty
Sovereign states must learn to behave like sovereign states. Falling prey to a begging bowl mentality and subjecting generations of unborn to tax-interest burden is unfair and unacceptable. Policy makers by their very name must create policies that generate income and protect the nation’s territory, sovereignty and safeguards the People. No Government must compromise the country or its people simply to accept created money given as aid with interest while agreeing to also curtail welfare and weaken the country via legislative changes.
MCC is demanding much for peanuts. Why have policy makers not taken stock of these factors. Sri Lanka’s policy makers are paid by the tax payer to look after the interests of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans not what satisfies external parties or to please them.
In viewing this project, every citizen must look at the bigger picture and the reason why MCC wants to have a footing in both Nepal & Sri Lanka and inspite of public sentiments against MCC, why the US & MCC are simply refusing to pack up & leave. The answer is the US strategy of 3Ds – defense, diplomacy & development.
Lawyers and Attorney General’s department cannot and should not take the agreement in its word form omitting to look into the history of the nation we propose to sign an agreement with coupled with scores of implementation letters that are not announced but binds Sri Lanka to commit to. This is no ordinary agreement and with components that are part of it already operational, it is the prerogative of the Government that promises the citizens that it will not sign MCC to stop the programs that are part of MCC and given to US companies and transfer those to local Ministries under locals to do on our terms and in compliance with local laws & systems.
Ven. Ellawala Medhananda has spent decades exploring the forgotten temples and monasteries in the Eastern province. His explorations have shown that there was an extensive spread of Buddhist monasteries and forest hermitages in the east in the ancient and medieval periods.
Medhananda discovered hitherto unknown monasteries, forest hermitages, temples, caves, and inscriptions. The Buddhist ruins at Nilaveli are Mahayana, he said. TheSembumalai ruins included a standing Buddha statue in limestone and a lotus pedestal, he recorded. Many ancient buildings went under machinery when the Mahaweli scheme started, he observed.
Medhananda‘s explorations have enlarged our knowledge of the Buddhist civilization of the east. Medhananda found that Nelumpath Pokuna in Kumana was known in ancient times as Gosagala Maha vihara. At Nelumpath he found ruins of a stupa, a Padam gala, plenty of bricks and remains of walls and an inscription by Kanittha Tissa, (167-86 AD).
Medhananda also found an inscription behind the Kondavattavana army camp, which said the area was Arama gama and the monastery as Ahali Araba. Digamadulla has been administered by its Dandanayake, a person named Sangwe Rakus,.
Medhananda
‘s major contribution to the political history of Sri Lanka ,was his
findings on the Magama kingdom of Ruhuna, (3rd century
BC). Medhananda
had found much information on the Magama kings and the Kavantissa dynasty in the inscriptions he discovered. He put it all together and came
up with a full history of the Magama kingdom.
Medhananda first
essay on the Magama kings, published in 1950 was praised in ‘Lankadipa’. Encouraged, he published Magama Rajadhaniya” in 1970, revised in 2012. In 2017, Ven. Medhananda was invited to speak at the Archaeological Society of Sri
Lanka, in Colombo. He gave an excellent,
well received talk on the Magama kingdom.. I attended this talk. It is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxeictgo8cg .
Medhananda views on ‘Magama Rajadhaniya’ have not been challenged
, but they have not been recognized either. Sirimal
Ranwella’s History of Ruhuna” (
Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey vol XI, 2011) ignores the views of
Medhananda . Medhananda is not
mentioned in the bibliography either.
However, Rajitha Weerakoon in one of her
essays on the history of Sri Lanka ,
stated that Gotabhaya and Yatalalatissa were brothers. This was one of
the discoveries of Medhananda . http://archives.dailynews.lk/2006/02/02/fea02.htm).
Medhananda said that term ‘Devanam
Piyatissa” was used only
for a king ruling at Anuradhapura , not
for those ruling in Ruhuna. ‘Devanam Piyatissa ‘had been used by
more than 18 Sinhalese kings, he added. ‘Gamini’
and ‘ Aya’ were used only for the reigning king.
Medhananda
also spoke of the early
settlements in Ruhuna. He said that initially there were three settlements, Anurajagama,
Rohana gama and Digayu gama .Medhananda
had found inscriptions ‘everywhere’
about the leaders of these settlements and their parampara. He even found an inscription at Hambantota where
Anurajagama is mentioned.
Then arose two parallel kingdoms, the
Kataragama kingdom ruled by the Kataragama clan, and
the Anurajagama kingdom, ruled by the Chandana grama. The Kataragama
group was later absorbed into the Magama
kingdom, but the Chandana grama group,
it appears was not.
Medhananda found references to Chandana grama
in his explorations. Chandana grama had ruled
in the Kirimakul area. Kirimakul
inscription gave the first generations
of rulers of Chandana grama. Medhananda
speculated that Chandana were also ruling in the Walawe Ganga region. Walawe Ganga had ancient settlements said
Medhananda , there are plenty of ruins to prove it, nobody has explored there. Medhananda
had explored Videi yaya and Veediya pitiya in the Walawe forest. He saw ruins and a huge
ancient road which ended at the Walawe Ganga. At this point there is a bridge, said Medhananda .
The Chandana grama base was Handagiriya said Medhananda . Medhananda’s booklet, Handagiriya hevat
Sandangana Nuwara” had attracted much attention. It had gone into many
reprints, and another revision is
planned..
Ven Ellawala Medhananda has gone deep into dense forests and looked at Buddhist
archaeological remains which
have not been explored by the
Archaeological Department. In his writings Medhananda lists the many areas containing Buddhist
archaeological remains, which are not
under the Department of archaeology.
I have carried
out these explorations for 40 years, under great difficulty, he said. He has
gone into inaccessible areas. To
reach Madanakanda, he went to Bokkabadda, then across Kosgaha dola, through a
chena to Madanakanda. for some
explorations he received the support of the army. Medhananda had
heard of an inscription in Sampath Nuwara ,Weli oya. It was on top of a
rock. Army made a ladder and
Medhananda climbed up with difficulty.
He did
not go blindly into unexplored jungle territory, he first made inquiries about
Buddhist ruins from the people living in the area. Ven. Kithalagama Seelalankara of Dimbulagala had directed Medhananda to
several historical sites, such as Keteragala, Sorivila, Duvegala, Omunugala,
Kandegama kanda, Siripalana and
Mutugalle. Samel, living in Uhana
had directed Medhananda to Samangala forest hermitage and to Madanakanda
len arama, to an inscription he had seen there. The inscription turned out
to be a valuable one.
Members of the public also informed him
of places they knew of. Jayanti
Liyanage, living in Mangala oya, Ampara had written to Medhananda giving the
location of ruins in the area she lived in. Medhananda went there and Jayanti’s
mother and brother had helped him. He
found an ancient wewa, old vihara and an old irrigation system.
Medhananda had received a letter from a girl
living in Arantalawa, telling him that
there were Buddhist ruins there.
She had read of his explorations in the papers. She had studied history for her
A levels. She was presently unemployed and engaged in paddy farming.
Ruins
in Maha oya in Ampara are disappearing ,
she wrote. Archaeological
Department is not interested.
There was a rock with 4 large stone elephants around it. but that is
only one place. I have picked up
a piece of clay from the stupa and am keeping it safely. Send me a letter to
reach me on Wednesday as that is the day we go to the pola, she concluded.
Medhananda went there and looked at the ruins. Area has been thickly populated earlier. He found ruins of irrigation channels.
I did not simply explore, I helped the
impoverished villages there.”, said
Medhananda . He provided money, food
clothes, medicines ,books and bank deposits
for children in these villages. He
helped impoverished temples with sivuru
,pirikara, and money. I was given a
given a gift of 20 lakhs. its
interest was used to give Rs 2500
monthly to 10 temples, he said.
When exploring Henannegala len vihara, Medhananda had gone in the evening, past Omuna Nai pen Ella to the cell
of Seelalankara himi. This was a cave with a coconut thatch roof. This was a dangerous journey. Couldn’t take provisions either, it was too
difficult. Instead of sugar, they crushed chilies and drank coffee or tea with
it. In the morning Medhananda ate
iringu which was roasted over
the fire and was given hot water to drink. ‘This is to show
you the sad life these monks in these
areas were leading,’ said Medhananda
.
Medhananda befriended monks in the remote places he found
them in. Medhananda heard that
LTTE had attacked Piyangala hermitage, Piyangala chief priest was shot
dead and the other priests were chased
away. Medhananda knew that beyond
Piyangala there were no settlements till Mangala oya. So the monks would be
starving. Medhananda decided to take dry
rations to them.
Medhananda prepared three large sackfuls of provisions.
Told his assistant to bring the sacks by bus from Avissawella to Balangoda. He
would meet him there after a sermon at Pathakada. He was planning to go to
from Akkaraipattu to Siyambalanduwa, then take bus to Ampara but the Ampara bus did not
come. They set off in another bus which broke down. They paid a passing lorry
and got to Ampara.
The CTB depot there tried to help. They stopped a passing bus and
asked whether he would take the mail and Medhananda to their destinations. The
bus driver, a Muslim, said forget the mail bags, I will somehow take the monk
to Piyangala and drop him there. He took
Medhananda , stopped by Piyangala dana sala,
helped unload the bags ,
worshipped the monk and went away.
The
hermitage was deserted, the monks
starving. They had survived on the leafy
vegetables available in the forest. Not even a monk of our sect came to see us. You are the first to
come to see us, they told Medhananda . I gave them some money and left, said
Medhananda .
Ven. Ellawala
Medhananda has spent decades exploring the forgotten temples and monasteries in
the Eastern province and to a lesser
extent in the north and north western provinces. All three are coastal
provinces where the Sinhala Buddhist heritage was getting systematically displaced by Tamil and Muslim separatists.
The Sinhala names are going out of use, it is
no longer Kusalana kanda”, and it is
now Kunchanamalai”, observed Medhananda . Wilpattu is now coming under Muslim control.
Muslims have said that there are no Buddhist ruins in Wilpattu and therefore
Muslim settlements can be permitted. Medhananda has shown that Wilpattu was originally Buddhist . President Sirisena had used one of
Medhananda letter to prove that Wilpattu
had Buddhist settlements.
Medhananda was openly anti-LTTE .LTTE had
destroyed many ruins said Medhananda . LTTE had bulldozed the standing Buddha
statue Paravankandam and destroyed its head completely. The rest was rescued and sent
to Ampara museum.
Kopavela vihara area is going under the LTTE.
It has caves inscription, columns,
moonstones, siripatula, jatra gala, gal
oru,. There is an inscription on Welgaha kandiya wewa bund too. There
was a monk, he was a teacher at Serankada Vidyalaya. he has
left.
At Kumbakarna
malai, LTTE have built bunkers using the bricks taken from the stupa on the
rock. LTTE had built a communication tower
at Lankapatuna. We had visited Girikumbara vihara
Ampara earlier but when we went again in
1986 to see what had happened, no one wanted to drive us there, said Medhananda
.
Medhananda
himself had several encounterswith
the LTTE. There was a rock inscription at Mundikulam malai site, Ampara. Medhananda
had missed this on his 1964 visit.He saw it in 1999 but could not take it down as LTTE was lurking
there. It was a LTTE base. Medhananda
said he had first visited
Mundikulammalai ruins in 1964 it was
fear of wild animals. In 1999 the fear was of the LTTE. We needed the support of the army and police
to go there.
LTTE had caused much destruction to the stupa
at Veheragalkanda, Pulunkunawa. Bricks
have been taken to build huts and there was manioc cultivation among the ruins.
When I went in 1982 they had established
an Eelam kingdom there. On all hilltops there was the Eelam symbol drawn in colour. There was a house built on top of stupa and
the owner glared at me.
At Kahabiliyawa Eramadu Medhananda and his
group faced a mortar attack from LTTE . At
Walatapitiya (near Sammanthurai) they
were surrounded by LTTE cadres and kept
prisoner for several hours.
Medhananda had videoed a partially destroyed
inscription at Walatapitiya and got
into their vehicle, when an LTTE
cadres, a girl about 14 or 15 years, came and put her knee to the front bumper.
25 boys and girls on bicycles came and surrounded
the vehicle and did not let it leave. they said this was Eelam area and Medhananda
had come without permission of the LTTE
.They started scolding in Tamil , and
became aggressive. ‘They
were getting ready to physically attack
us. Our lives were in danger but about
6 pm the girl by the car moved away’ and the driver on a signal from Medhananda drove away fast. ‘ Some were hit by the van. Also some bicycles were run over,’ said
Medhananda .
The group had threatened Medhananda with death
if he ever came back to inspect the site. Medhananda however, wanted to return to Walatapitiya to finish his exploration. He went again with Sihala Urumaya, led by
Tilak Karunaratne. The SU had decided to
accept the LTTE challenge and take the monk back to the site. The special Task
Force and the Police were on duty to provide security. But the inscription had
been destroyed . LTTE leader of that area, Vishu ,came on bicycle and watched
them, but we did a thorough exploration. Medhananda also took the delegation to a place close by
where a kovil was being constructed with the backing of the LTTE.
Ven Ellawala Medhananda has his own ideas about the ownership of
Buddhist sites. Over 90 % of the archaeological
sites are Buddhist sites, he observed.
Buddhist places of worship, including Buddhist
monastic ruins are the property
of the Sangha. They are sites that have been
offered to the Sangha. They are
therefore the property of the Sangha, not
the property of the Department of Archaeology. It is sanghika property.
These sites must be removed from the Archaeology Department and brought under the supervision
of a special band of monks. At
present if a bhikhhu takes up residence
in a temple which is under Archaeology Department, he is obstructed. Buddhist monks have a right to be
there.
Medhananda practiced what he preached. In the
1970s, bhikkhu Kehelpannala Sugata vansa wanted Medhananda’s help to set up an aranya in Ritigala. Medhananda
agreed.
Ven. Sugata went ahead to Ritigala and cleared out caves at Andiyakanda. Medhananda recalled that he went there alone, through
dense forest with wild elephant and wild buffalo.
The route was
Kekirawa- Ganewalpola- footpath through
Galapitagala junction to Gala pitagala wewa- along its bund to
Andiyakanda. This was a dangerous journey.
I now realize this looking back. But I have gone on that road alone, with
my bag, ten or twelve times. But never
was attacked, Medhananda recalled. Medhananda
thought it was due to his Buddhist beliefs. ‘Mama yanne budu guna
sihikaragena’. Medhananda wore a suitable robe and helped Ven, Sugata construct the kuti at Ritigala. We faced a dharanipata rain. This helped to
obtain clay ,he said optimistically.
To conclude,
Ven Ellawala Medhananda is a courageous, oustspoken bhikkhu. His range of
activities is very wide, possibly more
that any other bhikkhu, and he has been effective in all the sectors he has
worked in . He deserves more recognition than he has received so far.
In addition
to the sources given in the essays, I have also used the biography , Ellawela
Medhananda hamuduruwo” by Lakshman Kahatapitiya, pub. Dayawansa Jayakody, 2008.
( CONCLUDED)
(Translation of the speech made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday 28 June on Defeating domestic and foreign conspiracies against Sri Lanka”.)
Most
venerable members of the Maha Sangha, Clergymen of all other faiths, people of
Sri Lanka and friends,
A socialist
government assumed power in this country in 1970, but nobody said that it had
been brought into power through Russian or Chinese intervention. Likewise, a
capitalist government assumed power in 1977, but we never said that it had been
brought into power through American or British intervention. However there was
foreign interference to an extent never before experienced in this country at
the 2015 presidential election. Certain foreign parties began to intervene in
the politics of this country in a major way after we won the war in 2009. They
never thought we would be able to win that war. This
intervention actually began at the 2010 presidential election but the people of
this country conclusively defeated that early attempt. However the conspiracy
continued till 2015. Everyone knows who prevailed on the leader of the UNP to
stand aside in favour of a common candidate.
The situation
that prevailed in this country following the assumption of power by the
yahapalana government in 2015 was akin to having been taken over by a hostile
foreign invading force. They systematically persecuted the nationalist
political camp in this country. They jailed leading Buddhist monks on trumped
up charges in order to intimidate the Maha Sangha which has always been at the
forefront in protecting the sovereignty of this country. They went after the
elephants and tuskers belonging to the temples in a major way, in order to put
an end to the perahera traditions of the Buddhists.
They moved to demoralize and render
ineffective our armed forces which defeated terrorism and ensured the territorial
integrity of the country. Selected members of the armed forces ranging from the
lowest ranks right up to the Chief of Defence Staff were arrested, kept in jail
for weeks, months or years and cases were filed against them on trumped up
charges. The intention behind all this was to create the impression in the
minds of the local population and also to convey to the world the idea that
these were not war heroes but thieves and murderers.
Nationalist politicians
were also systematically persecuted. Various Commissions of Inquiry were
instituted against them. They were hauled before the police, remanded for
months and cases were filed against them on false charges. All this was done
with the intention of completely destroying the nationalist camp in this
country and thus facilitating the division of Sri Lanka by introducing a new
constitution. What they could not achieve through war, they tried to achieve
through political manoeuvres.
These plans could not be implemented
in their entirety because we won the 2019 November presidential elections.
However domestic and foreign conspirators have not yet given up. Everyone saw
the drama that was orchestrated within days of the new President assuming
office alleging that a local employee of a Western embassy had been abducted
and questioned. That showed that these conspirators were not willing to give
the new dispensation any breathing space.
The main
pledges given by the yahapalana conspirators to their foreign masters were
contained in resolution 30/1 which the yahapalana government co-sponsored in
the UN Human Rights Council in October 2015. They admitted that the Sri Lankan
armed forces had committed war crimes, and they pledged to establish a special
court to try those war crimes with the participation of foreign judges and
prosecutors. They also undertook to remove through administrative means, members
of the armed forces who were suspected of having committed war crimes even in the absence of evidence against them which can be used in courts. The
intent behind all this was to demoralise and render ineffective the armed
forces of Sri Lanka.
Even though
the yahapalana government was not able to implement these pledges in the manner
originally intended, they have introduced new laws to implement them by other
means. In August 2016, the Office of Missing Persons Act was rammed through
Parliament without leaving room for any debate. Though it’s described as an ‘office’,
this is actually an inquisitorial body that can issue summons, examine
witnesses, and collect evidence. Officers of the OMP can search without a
warrant any armed forces installation, police station, or prison and take into
their possession any document or thing they deem necessary. All state bodies
including the intelligence agencies and the armed forces are legally bound to
cooperate with the OMP even in contravention of the provisions of the State
Secrets Act.
In March
2018, the yahapalana government passed Act No: 5 of 2018 in order to make the
provisions of the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearances
applicable in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this was not to faciliatate the
location of disappeared persons, but to persecute members of the armed forces.
Under this law, a person suspected of being responsible for an enforced
dissappearance in Sri Lanka can be extradited to a foreign country and either
tried in that country or handed over to the International Criminal Court.
In August
2018 the yahapalana government passed an amendment to the Mutual Assistance in
Criminal Matters Act which will enable a foreign country or the International
Criminal Court to locate suspects or witnesses in Sri Lanka or to obtain
evidence they need from Sri Lanka. The
UN Human Rights Commissioner has already requested Western countries to
institute legal action in their respective countries against members of the Sri
Lankan armed forces suspected of war crimes under the concept of universal
jurisdiction.
If the yahapalana cabal had won the 2019 presidential
election, they would have implemented all this and finished off Sri Lanka. We
need a very strong mandate at this election to conclusively defeat these
conspiracies. You will recall that at the end of 2018 when the yahapalana
government began to break up, diplomats of certain Western embasies sat in the
visitor’s gallery in Parliament and applauded and cheered the yahapalana
Speaker’s efforts to protect their investment. We must bear in mind that even
though the conspirators lost the presidential election, they have not given up
their quest.
My request to
the people of Sri Lanka is to always have the broader picture in mind when it
comes to politics. Given the threats we are up against, we will be destroyed if
we fail to distinguish between what is politically important and politically
unimportant. Various things can be said about the question whether social
distancing was observed in the proper manner at Mr Arumugam Thondaman’s funeral
or whether someone had been guilty of fixing a cricket match back in 2011.
However these are not politically important matters.
The biggest
problem that we had to face after President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came into power
was the Covid-19 pandemic. What is politically important is whether that major
issue was handled competently. I wish to state that we are right on top in the
world in controlling Covid-19. Even New Zealand is behind us. Countries like
Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan learnt how to contain pandemics like Covid-19
through the bitter experience of the SARS pandemic of 2003.
We have
managed to bring Covid-19 under control in this manner without much experience
with such diseases. As of now the only possibility of another Covid-19 outbreak
in this country will be if an infected person coming from overseas somehow
finds his way into the general population. If the yahapalana cabal had been in
power, would they have been able to bring Covid-19 under control in this
manner? If we are able to distinguish what is important from what is
unimportant, and always have the broader picture in mind, our people will
always be the winners.
We saw the
manner in which the yahapalana cabal made a hue and cry about a comment made by
Karuna Amman to the effect that he had been responsible for the deaths of
thousands of soldiers in attacks on army camps when he was in the LTTE. This
shows how easy it is to obscure the broader picture by bringing other issues to
the fore. After I became President in November 2005, we destroyed the LTTE
completely. Because he had by that time given up both terrorism and separatism
and surrendered to military intelligence, Karuna was not destroyed along with
the LTTE. It was Karuna who formally identified Prabhakaran’s dead body for us.
If we look at
the doings of those who are asking the people to vote for the yahapalana camp because
of what Karuna said, some interesting facts emerge. Those now in the yahapalana
camp gave lorry loads of weapons and gunny bags full of cash to the LTTE in
1989 in a foolish attempt to win them over. For years afterwards, the LTTE
attacked us with our own weapons. In 2002, the yahapalana camp virtually ceded
the Northern and Eastern provinces to Prabhakaran through the ceasefire agreement.
The yahapalana government drafted a new constitution to divide the country.
Then they incorporated the conceptual framework of that constitution in their
2019 presidential election manifesto as well.
From the time Karuna Amman was murdering people, and
after he had given up doing so, and
right up to the present day, what has been right at the top of the yahapalana
agenda has been the division of this country. Karuna may have given up
murdering people, but the yahapalana cabal has not given up trying to divide
the country. That is what we have to realise here. In any case, the CID is
carrying out an investigation into what Karuna said. If we allow ourselves to
be distracted and forget the broader picture even for a moment, the consequences
could be disastrous. That is why I always stress the importance of the broader
picture.
If people cast their votes on the basis of various
minor distractions, we will lose everything, our country, our nationhood, our
religion, our culture and the future of unborn generations. The people should
always ask themselves who can rule this country effectively, ensure economic
development, eliminate terrorism and ensure the security of the nation? Who can
safeguard democracy by holding elections on time? Who can build a Sri Lanka
where future generations will be able to live freely and be proud of? I need
not spell it out, every Sri Lankan knows the answer to those questions.
Thank you,
May the
blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you, God bless you.
This is hardly the time for the US State Department to be meddling in Sri Lanka. It has so many disasters on its hands, and it does not seem that any of them would go away this century.
I shall list a few on a later occasion – as the whole world knows the American jackboot has been slogging on wherever the exceptional greed of its corporations and their political henchmen directs it.
But what is of immediate interest to us here, in Sri Lanka, is the statement made by the US Ambassador, Alaina B. Teplitz, that the US would continue engagement with the Sri Lankan Government despite some recent incidents, including a controversy over a US diplomat who arrived in the country. Asked if the employee is a US military officer, the US Ambassador said that the officer is a US Embassy employee.
She said that while the US and Sri Lanka may not agree on everything, there are areas where they do agree and would be able to easily collaborate, and that while the US will continue to express its opinions on certain matters, it will do so with respect and constructively.
The key US opinion follows: “The Government needs to look at its policies and ease of doing business if it is going to attract foreign investment and take advantage of the changes that will come in future,” she said.
And, in what is not meant to be ‘an opinion,’ the Ambassador said that “the private sector will be the leading edge in the economy”.
Illustrative of the American approach to matters that have nothing to do with the USA, Ms. Teplitz “also echoed concerns on the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province”.
Excuse me? Regardless of the exertions made by European invaders to erase the indigenous archaeological remains in the US, of what concern to her is our archaeological heritage?
Or, is she articulating the intent behind the so-called Millennium Corporation Compact that they have been at pains to engineer, within the most corrupt parliament we have yet had, with a group of the most corrupt at its head?
Your paper has given the necessary support for senior journalist, Shamindra Ferdinando, to commence blowing the lid off the supposed ‘compact’ with a handful, literally, of individuals who possess not a whiff of authority to speak for our people.
For starters, let us put down, in black and white, some features that this draft document seeks to bind us to:
“MCC is a United States Government corporation acting on behalf of the United States Government in the implementation of this Compact.
“MCC and the United States Government assume no liability for any claims, or loss, arising out of activities or omissions under this Compact.
“The Government (of Sri Lanka) waives any and all claims against MCC, or the United States Government, or any current or former officer or employee of MCC or the United States Government, for all loss, damage, injury or death arising out of activities or omissions under this compact and agrees that it shall not bring any claim or legal proceeding of any kind against any of the above entities, or persons, for any such loss, damage, injury or death…
“Any current or former officer, or employee, of the MCC, or the United States Government, shall be immune from the jurisdiction of all courts and tribunals of Sri Lanka for any claim or loss arising out of activities, or omissions, under this Compact.”
The above averments are explicit enough in stating that the government of Sri Lanka ceases to have any sovereign authority vis-a-vis this US Corporation. The example that immediately comes to mind flows from Ms. Teglitz’s response, quoted above, to the inquiry regarding the US citizen who refused to be checked for the Coronavirus at the airport. The ‘compact’ sought by the US now would provide for any person, whether a US citizen or not, who claims to be an ‘employee’ of the MCC, to flout all regulations / laws that are designed to protect our country and her people. It should be mentioned that another American entity, US AID, also wishes to take over a swathe of territory around Arugam Bay. What for? one might ask. To provide R & R for military personnel in the style that destroyed Bangkok, Djakarta, Manila…?
Many months ago, I, and others, called upon those who are in possession of this draft document to publish it. Until that is done, the people, on behalf of whom such agreements are to be made, would not be able to give, or deny, the only possible legitimacy for it – their mandate.
What we have had instead is the spectacle of a tuition mudalali who, it would seem, claims to speak for them.
Top MCC official Fatema Z. Sumar with Dr. Samaratunga at the signing of the first agreement (file photo)
Contrary to US embassy denial that funds required for preparatory activities related to controversial MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) project had not been disbursed or put off pending finalization of the decision, the US and Sri Lanka signed two agreements worth USD 10 mn in July 2017 and June 2018, according to authoritative sources.
US Embassy twitted on Thursday (25) that no MCC grant monies had been transferred to or spent by the Sri Lankan government under the proposed USD480 million grant. Funds for preparatory activities have been cancelled or indefinitely postponed, pending the Government’s decision whether to proceed with the grant.
The US Embassy was responding to Chairman of the Experts’ Committee Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, Professor of Economics of University of Colombo declaration that though USD 7.4 mn (Rs.1.1 bn) and USD 2.6 mn (Rs 413) had been received in 2017 and 2018 no accounts details were to be found anywhere.
Sources pointed out that the US Embassy, on July 27, 2017 and on June 13, 2018, had announced the finalization of two agreements (i) to develop a compact, including identification and analyzing of specific projects and (ii) to finalize compact development. According to the US Embassy statements, the funds allocated to the tune of USD 10 mn were in addition to the total MCC compact funding amount.
The final report of the Expert’s Committee appointed to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat last Thursday.
The Expert Committee said that it stood by its report prepared over a period of six months.
On President Rajapaksa’s directive, the entire report was posted online within 48 hours after receiving it.
Sources pointed out that incumbent US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz, in an interview, in Dec 2018, which was posted on the US Embassy website confirmed the allocation of funds in 2017 and 2018. Ambassador Teplitz is on record as having said: “Via the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), we are focusing on how to improve the infrastructure in Sri Lanka. MCC’s initial grant, worth Rs. 1.2 billion ($7.4 million), was provided in July 2016 to support feasibility studies needed to develop a high-quality, evidence-based, and sustainable programme, and in 2017, an agreement was signed to provide an additional Rs. 413 million ($ 2.6 million) grant to finalise compact development.”
The Ambassador is quoted as having further said: “All our assistance is grants, and not loans which have to be repaid. We do this because we want to be a friend and partner, where we share mutual interest. Unfortunately, the MCC has been paused for the moment, until the resolution of the political crisis.”
The Gunaruwan Committee included former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayawardena and architect Nalaka Jayaweera.
The committee was formed in terms of a Cabinet decision taken on December 18, 2019, a month after the last presidential poll.
Sources pointed out that Ambassador Teplitz had inadvertently said that the two agreements were signed in 2016 and 2017 whereas the actual signing took place in 2017 and 2018.
On behalf of Sri Lanka, Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga signed both agreements whereas Fatema Z. Sumar, Regional Deputy Vice President U.S. Government’s MCC and MCC’s Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America Caroline Nguyen signed the 2017 and 2018 agreements, respectively.
The then Deputy Chief of US Embassy Robert Hilton was present on both occasions. Hilton in the run-up to the last presidential poll told media that the US expected Sri Lanka to honour finalised agreements whatever the outcome of the polls.
According to US Embassy statement, issued on June 13, 2018 following the signing of the second agreement, Caroline Nguyen met State Minister for Finance Eran Wickramaratne and the Minister for Highways and Roads, Kabir Hashim.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Saturday, dismissed the Gunaruwan report while challenging President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government to reveal its stand on the MCC compact.
A few weeks before the signing of the first agreement, Mangala Samaraweera received the finance portfolio, which had been previously held by Ravi Karunanayake. Samaraweera and Karunanayake exchanged foreign and finance portfolios, respectively, in the wake of Treasury bond scams (Feb 2015 and March 2016) and Co-sponsorship of the Geneva Resolution (Oct 2015).
Government sources said that the Expert Committee hadn’t been successful in obtaining Attorney General’s Office response to a series of questions formulated to ascertain the status of the MCC compact. In spite of the set of questions made available to the AG’s Office, the Expert Committee had been deprived of the required information at the time the report was handed over to the President, sources said. Responding to another query, sources said that AG’s Office was contacted as the then Finance Minister Samaraweera in the run-up to the last presidential poll issued a statement titled ‘MCC agreement drafted with the consent of AG will be presented in Parliament’. Samaraweera said, “The whole process and the final agreements, were done under the guidance of the Attorney General and well within the legal framework. The Attorney General is of the opinion that the Agreements are in order and there exists no legal impediment to execute same.” The agreements, referred to were the Compact Agreement and the Programme Implementation Agreement.
Dappula de Livera, PC has been serving as the AG since April 29, 2019 following the appointment of his predecessor Jayantha Jayasuriya as the Chief Justice.
The final report by the Expert’s Committee appointed to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) is accessible for general public on three websites, the President’s Media Division said.
Accordingly, it will be available on http://www.president.gov.lk/
Link 1: https://www.president.gov.lk/si/ ජනපතිට-භාරදුන්-mcc-සමාලෝචන-අ
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a four-member Committee to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) on January 01, 2020.
The Committee was chaired by Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, a Professor of Economics at University of Colombo.
Former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Justice Nihal Jayawardena and architect Nalaka Jayaweera were the other members of the Expert’s committee.
The final report of the Committee was handed over to President Rajapaksa by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan at the Presidential Secretariat on June 25.
President Rajapaksa directed the Secretary to the President to place the recommendations of the report before the public.
